THE ESSEX FIELD CLUB.
141
It was not without some justification that the Cistercians or "white
monks'' were looked upon as being the most avaricious of all the monastic
orders. Introduced into England only seven years before their abbey of
Stratford Langthorne was founded, by the middle of the 13th century
this particular abbey had waxed so fat, by repeated gifts from successive
monarchs and feudal lords, that the monks appear to have lived in a style
far removed from the asceticism of the founders of their Order. A writer
of the time says of them sarcastically: "One must for them beat the
"bushes with a great number of hunters and by the help of birds of
"prey must one chase the pheasants, and partridges and ringdoves,
"for fear the servants of God, who are good monks, should starve with
"hunger."
Although the abbots of Stratford Langthorne were not "mitred
abbots," yet in 1295 and again in 1307 they were summoned to attend
Parliament.
The arms of the Abbey, which have been incorporated in the modern
arms granted to the County Borough of West Ham, were "gules, three
chevronels or, over all a crozier bendywise argent."
The architectural planning of all Cistercian monasteries was remarkably
uniform, and we have no reason to doubt that Stratford Langthorne
followed the usual arrangement. The cruciform abbey-church lay to
the north of the conventual buildings, to screen them from the cold
northerly winds. The cloister, which nestled in the angle formed by the
south aisle of the nave and the south transept, was the daily resort of
the monks; to its south was the refectory, and by it the kitchen and
offices. The east side of the cloister was shut in by the Chapter House
and the Fratry, or monks' day-room, over which was the long dormitory,
with a direct access to the south transept, so as to allow easy passage to
the Church for night masses. The west side of the cloister was closed
by the. hospitium, or guest-house, comprising a dining-hall below and
lodgings above. The abbot's lodging and the infirmary were usually
distinct buildings, as also, of course, were the various business establish-
ments.
We know that at Stratford Langthorne the abbey church formed a
separate intra-mural parish of All Saints (as distinct from the parish of
West Ham), while there was also a small chapel known as St. Richard
Chapel; further, in addition to the main conventual buildings, there was
a "Poor Firmary." a Monk Porter's Lodging over the Great Gate at the
entrance to the precincts, a slaughterhouse, a grange, a dovehouse, a
bakehouse, tanhouse, barns and ontbuildings: the records also mention
gardens, orchards, fishponds, and a private garden for the abbot. On the
Channelsea River were the Abbey Flour Mills, about which I shall have
more to say later.
A carefully executed pencil sketch included in the Powell MSS. in the
British Museum, made probably in 1802. shows clearly the Transitional,
Norman to Early English, character of the capitals to the doorway which
at that date still remained of the old Abbey : other sketches of fragmentary
remains show characteristic Early English mouldings. From this we
may deduce that extensive building developments took place during
the early 13th century, as the. Abbey waxed fat in income.